Sixteen years ago today, legendary movie title sequence designer Saul Bass passed away. In memory of this prolific artist, here's an overview of his entire body of work.
“For the average audience, the credits tell them there’s only
three minutes left to eat popcorn. I take this ‘dead’ period and try to do more than simply get rid of names that film-goers aren’t interested in.
I aim to set up the audience for what’s coming;
make them expectant.”
— SAUL BASS
CARMEN JONES (1954) [
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Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge
Country: USA
“Titles designed by SAUL BASS”
‘CARMEN JONES’ was the first of 13 title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Otto Preminger.
“I began as a graphic designer and as part of my work I created
many film symbols for ad campaigns. During that period I happened to be working on the symbols for ‘Carmen Jones’ and ‘The man with the golden arm’ for Otto Preminger. At one point in our work Otto and I just looked at
each other and said: “why not make it move?” It was really as simple as that.”
— SAUL BASS – “Bass on titles,” 1977
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (1955) [
buy]
Directed by: Billy Wilder
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell
Country: USA
It TICKLES and TANTALIZES! – The funniest comedy since laughter began!
“Titles designed by SAUL BASS”
When the title appears, one arm of the T in ITCH reaches down and scratches the stem of the letter.
Directed by: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters
Country: USA
“Titles designed by Saul Bass”
‘THE BIG KNIFE’ was the first of two title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Robert Aldrich. The second title was ‘Attack’ (1956).
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955) [
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Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak
Country: USA
“Titles designed by SAUL BASS”
‘THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM’ was the second of 13 title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Otto Preminger.
“‘The man with the golden arm’ woke everybody up and said: “This is what the potential is for main titles. You thought this was just a throw-away kind of thing where we just put the type up and noone really designs it.”
And Saul Bass said:“Hey, wait a minute designers, directors, here’s an opportunity for us, to take advantage of this real estate at the beginning of a movie and use it to help tell the story or just use it to make something real interesting or beautiful,” and everybody woke up.”
— KYLE COOPER, designer of the Se7en title sequence,
in the documentary “Saul Bass, title champ,” 2008
Directed by: Carol Reed
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida
Country: USA
The wonder show of the world!
Uncredited
Directed by: Daniel Taradash
Starring: Bette Davis, Brian Keith, George Sanders
Country: USA
Who really set the town aflame?…
“Titles designed by Saul Bass”
Directed by: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin
Country: USA
The battle baitin’ bazooka bouncers of company “C”!
Uncredited
‘ATTACK’ was the second of two title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Robert Aldrich. The first was The big knife (1955)
AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS (1956) [
buy]
Directed by: Michael Anderson
Starring: Cantinflas, David Niven, Shirley MacLaine, Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich
Country: USA
It’s a wonderful world, if you’ll only take the time to go around it!
“Titles designed by Saul Bass”
The closing credits Saul Bass created for Around the world in eighty days were the longest and most expensive credits ever made, at the time. They cost $65,000.
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: Richard Widmark, Richard Todd, Jean Seberg
Country: USA
“Titles Saul Bass”
‘SAINT JOAN’ was the third of 13 title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Otto Preminger.
THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION (1956) [
buy]
Directed by: Stanley Kramer
Starring: Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren
Country: USA
“Titles designed by Saul Bass”
‘The pride and the passion’ was the first of two title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Stanley Kramer. The second one was the It’s a mad mad mad mad world (1963) title sequence.
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Jean Seberg
Country: USA
“Titles designed by Saul Bass”
‘BONJOUR TRISTESSE’ was the fourth of 13 titles Bass designed for director Otto Preminger.
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes
Country: USA
Alfred Hitchcock engulfs you in a whirlpool of terror and tension!
“Titles designed by Saul Bass”
‘VERTIGO’ was the first of three title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Alfred Hitchcock.
“Bass fashioned title sequences into an art, creating in some cases, like Vertigo, a mini-film within a film. His graphic compositions in movement function as a prologue to the movie – setting the tone, providing the mood and foreshadowing the action.”
— MARTIN SCORSESE
THE BIG COUNTRY (1958) [
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Directed by: William Wyler
Starring: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker
Country: USA
Big they fought! Big they loved! Big their story!
“Titles designed by Saul Bass”
“There’s a story about someone seeing the titles for Wyler’s The Big Country (1958) and remarking to Saul that it “didn’t look like a Saul Bass title sequence.” He was taken aback, because for him, there was no such thing as “a Saul Bass title sequence.”
— MARTIN SCORSESE – “Saul Bass’ cinematic art”
February 2010 issue of Architectural Digest
ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959) [
buy]
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara
Country: USA
“Titles designed by Saul Bass”
‘ANATOMY OF A MURDER’ was the 5th of 13 title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Otto Preminger.
More (1 video, 25 stills) on the Updates blog:
Saul Bass’ Anatomy of a murder (1959) title sequence
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) [
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Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
Country: USA
Alfred Hitchcock takes you…. North by Northwest!
“Titles designed by Saul Bass”
‘NORTH BY NORTHWEST’ was the second of three title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Alfred Hitchcock.
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles
Country: USA
Don’t give away the ending – it’s the only one we have!
“Titles designed by Saul Bass”
‘PSYCHO’ was the third of three title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Alfred Hitchcock.
OCEAN’S ELEVEN (1960) [
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Directed by: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.
Country: USA
In any other town they’d be the bad guys…
“Title design by Saul Bass”
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton
Country: USA
They trained him to kill for their pleasure …but they trained him a little too well…
“Main titles & design consultant SAUL BASS”
Directed by: Melvin Frank
Starring: Bob Hope, Lucille Ball
Country: USA
“Titles designed by Saul Bass and Associates”
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson
Country: USA
“Titles designed by SAUL BASS”
‘EXODUS’ was the 6th of 13 title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Otto Preminger.
WEST SIDE STORY (1961) [
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Directed by: Robert Wise
Starring: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn
Country: USA
The screen achieves one of the great entertainments in the history of motion pictures
“Titles and Visual Consultation by SAUL BASS”
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE (1962)
Directed by: Edward Dmytryk
Starring: Laurence Harvey, Capucine, Jane Fonda, Anne Baxter, Barbara Stanwyck
Country: USA
THIS IS AN ADULT PICTURE! Parents should exercise discretion in permitting the immature to see it.
“Titles designed by SAUL BASS”
“So important have the titles become that they can be a menace to
the movie itself. The titles for the 1962 production of ‘Walk on the wild side,’ for example, were so arresting and so widely acclaimed that
the film is remembered for little else.”
— DAVID ZEITLIN
LIFE magazine, 7 february 1964
ADVISE & CONSENT (1962) [
buy]
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Walter Pidgeon, Franchot Tone, Gene Tierney, Burgess Meredith
Country: USA
Are the men and women of Washington really like this?
NINE HOURS TO RAMA (1963)
Directed by: Mark Robson
Starring: Horst Buchholz, José Ferrer, Valerie Gearon
Country: USA
The murder that changed the lives of millions!
“Titles Designed by Saul Bass”
IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (1963) [
buy]
Directed by: Stanley Kramer
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar
Country: USA
It’s the biggest entertainment ever to rock the screen with laughter!
“Titles by Saul Bass”
‘IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD’ was the second of two title sequences Bass designed for director Stanley Kramer. The first one was ‘The pride and the passion’ (1957)
Directed by: Carl Foreman
Starring: Vince Edwards, Albert Finney, Jeanne Moreau, George Peppard, Romy Schneider, Eli Wallach, Peter Fonda
Country: USA
“Prologue and Title Design by SAUL BASS”
THE CARDINAL (1963) [
buy]
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: Tom Tryon, Romy Schneider, Carol Lynley
Country: USA
“Titles: Saul Bass”
‘THE CARDINAL’ was the 8th of 13 title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Otto Preminger.
IN HARM’S WAY (1965) [
buy]
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal
Country: USA
Stripped of everything – they lived and loved and fought as if there were no tomorrow…
“Titles: Saul Bass”
‘IN HARM’S WAY’ was the 9th of 13 title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Otto Preminger.
BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING (1965) [
buy]
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Carol Lynley, Keir Dullea
Country: USA
No one admitted while the clock is ticking!
“Titles: Saul Bass”
‘BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING’ was the 10th of 13 title sequences Bass designed for director Otto Preminger.
Directed by: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Rock Hudson, Salome Jens, John Randolph
Country: USA
What are Seconds?… The answer may be too terrifying for words!
“Titles by SAUL BASS”
‘SECONDS’ was the second of three title sequences Saul Bass designed for director John Frankenheimer.
NOT WITH MY WIFE, YOU DON’T! (1966) [
buy]
Directed by: Norman Panama
Starring: Tony Curtis, Virna Lisi, George C. Scott
Country: USA
What are Seconds?… The answer may be too terrifying for words!
“Visual consultation & title by Saul Bass & Associates”
Directed by: John Frankenheimer
Starring: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand
Country: USA
“Visual consultant; montages, and titles by Saul Bass”
‘GRAND PRIX’ was the third of three titles Bass designed for director John Frankenheimer.
Directed by: Saul Bass
Starring: Michael Murphy, Nigel Davenport, Lynne Frederick
Country: USA
The day the earth was turned into a cemetery!
Uncredited
‘PHASE IV’ is the only feature length film Saul Bass ever directed.
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: Peter O’Toole, Richard Attenborough, Peter Lawford
Country: USA
“Main title designed by SAUL BASS”
‘ROSEBUD’ was the 12th of 13 title sequences Saul Bass designed for director Otto Preminger.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT, PART II (1976) [
buy]
Directed by: Gene Kelly
Starring: Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor
Country: USA
“Titles by SAUL BASS”
“I want everything we do – that I do personally,
that our office does – to be beautiful. I don’t give a damn whether a client understands that that’s worth anything, or that a client thinks it’s worth anything, or whether it is worth anything. It’s worth it to me.
It’s the way I want to live my life.
I want to make beautiful things. Even if nobody cares.”
— SAUL BASS, Bass on Titles, 1977
BROADCAST NEWS (1987) [
buy]
Directed by: James L. Brooks
Starring: William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Holly Hunter
Country: USA
It’s the story of their lives.
“Titles by SAUL BASS”
Directed by: Penny Marshall
Starring: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia
Country: USA
Have you ever had a really big secret?
“Titles by SAUL BASS”
THE WAR OF THE ROSES (1989) [
buy]
Directed by: Danny DeVito
Starring: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito
Country: USA
Once in a lifetime comes a motion picture that makes you feel like falling in love all over again.
This is not that movie.
“Title sequence by ELAINE & SAUL BASS”
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
Country: USA
In a world that’s powered by violence, on the streets where the violent have power, a new generation carries on an old tradition.
“Titles by ELAINE &SAUL BASS”
‘GOODFELLAS’ was the first of five title sequences Saul Bass and his wife Elaine designed for director
Martin Scorsese.
PREMINGER: ANATOMY OF A FILMMAKER (1991) [
buy]
Directed by: Valerie A. Robins
Starring: Otto Preminger, Saul Bass, Peter Bogdanovich, Michael Caine, Burgess Meredith
Country: USA
“Title design: Saul Bass”
“Saul Bass wasn’t just an artist who contributed to the
first several minutes of some of the greatest movies in history;
in my opinion his body of work qualifies him as one of the best
film makers of this, or any other time.”
— STEVEN SPIELBERG
“Saul Bass 1920–1996: A celebration of an extraordinary life,” 1996
DOC HOLLYWOOD (1991) [
buy]
Directed by: Michael Caton-Jones
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, Barnard Hughes
Country: USA
He’s a big city plastic surgeon…in a small town that doesn’t take plastic.
“Titles by Elaine & Saul Bass”
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Martin Balsam
Country: USA
“Title sequence by Elaine & Saul Bass”
‘CAPE FEAR’ was the second of five title sequences Saul Bass designed for Martin Scorses.
For this title sequence Saul Bass used material from an earlier sequence he designed, the transforming faces from Seconds (1966)
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1993) [
buy]
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder
Country: USA
“Title sequence by Elaine & Saul Bass”
‘THE AGE OF INNOCENCE’ was the third of five sequences Saul Bass designed for Martin Scorsese.
HIGHER LEARNING (1995) [
buy]
Directed by: John Singleton
Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Ice Cube, Omar Epps
Country: USA
49 Countries. 6 Races. 2 Sexes. 1 Campus.
“Title sequence Elaine & Saul Bass”
A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH AMERICAN MOVIES (1995) [
buy]
Directed by: Martin Scorsese, Michael Henry Wilson
Starring: Martin Scorsese
Country: USA
No one stays at the top forever.
“Titles by Saul Bass”
‘A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH AMERICAN MOVIES’ was the fourth of five title sequences Saul Bass designed for Martin Scorsese.
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci
Country: USA
No one stays at the top forever.
“Title sequence by Elaine & Saul Bass”
‘CASINO’ was the fifth of five sequences Saul Bass designed for director Martin Scorsese.
“There was only one Saul Bass. He was a gentleman, a brilliant raconteur, a marvelous collaborator and, as I’ve said before, a truly great artist.
And – let’s be honest – a giant.”
— MARTIN SCORSESE – “Saul Bass’ cinematic art”
February 2010 issue of Architectural Digest
Source: Movie Title Stills Collection
